Terminal board wire wrap intercept connector



Oct. 7, 19 69 J. v. CULL TERMINAL BOARD wm: WRAP INTERCEPT CONNECTOR Filed April 27, 196'? Lwwuu John V Cull INVENTOR United States Patent 3,471,821 TERMINAL BOARD WIRE WRAP INTERCEPT CONNECTOR John V. Cull, 832 Sylvania Drive, Dallas, Tex. 75218 Filed Apr. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 634,148 Int. Cl. H051; 1/00 US. Cl. 339-17 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A connector employed to connect certain terminals on terminal blocks employed in telephone switching stations and the like. The connector replaces the usual wire wrap intercept connection and includes a plurality of clips oriented for contacting interlocking engagement with the terminals with the clips being interconnected by a printed circuit thus connecting certain of the terminals as desired with the connectors including spring clip structures engaging the terminals to provide a positive electrical contact as well as a secure physical connection.

The present invention generally relates to a terminal board wire wrap intercept connector and specifically relates to improvements in the structure disclosed in prior Patent No. 3,235,829, issued Feb. 15, 1966, to David M. Haefele.

The connection of terminals on a terminal block in telephone equipment is well-known and connecting devices have been provided for this purpose such as disclosed in the previously mentioned Patent No. 3,235,829. Certain types of terminal blocks have terminals which extend upwardly and in an inclined manner to provide better access to the terminals. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an intercept connector which has a plurality of terminal contacting clips oriented and mounted in such a manner that the clips may be quickly and easily yet positively engaged with the inclined terminals.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an intercept connector in which the clips are mounted to one side of a panel or board of insulating material in the form of a strip to enable the contacting clips to be laterally engaged with the terminals.

Yet another feature of the present invention is to provide a terminal board wire wrap intercept connector which may be installed or removed in several seconds or less as compared with several minutes or more required to wire wrap terminals thereby introducing substantial saving in time and cost. The intercept connector of the present invention also reduces the possibility of billing errors due to faulty or inaccurate wire wrap connections being made to the terminals thereby rendering the intercept connector of the present invention economically feasible.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the terminal board wire wrap intercept connector employed with a terminal board having a plurality of inclined terminals thereon illustrating the associational relationship between the connector and the terminals;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the connector of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view, on an enlarged ice scale, taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a rear perspective view of the connector illustrating the manner in which the terminal contacting clips are electrically interconnected by a conductive strip or printed circuit; and

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of one of the terminal contacting clips.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the numeral 20 generally designates a connector which is employed with a terminal block 22 having a plurality of terminals 24 projecting upwardly therefrom in an inclined manner with all of the terminals 24 being parallel to each other. The lower ends of the terminals 24 where they connect with the terminal block 22 are wider as indicated by numeral 26 and also extend below the terminal block 22 as illustrated in FIGURE 1 for connection with an insulated conductor 28 by a wire wrap connection 30 or the like.

The connector 20 includes an elongated substantially rectangular body or strip 32 of non-conducting rigid material which is flame-proof and may be of any suitable plastic material or the like. The strip 32 has a plurality of contact clips or springs 34 mounted on one side thereof with each clip or spring 34 including a flat mounting plate 36 having an aperture 38 in one corner thereof and a dimple or detent 40 formed slightly below but adjacent to the aperture 38 as illustrated in FIGURE 5. The opposite edge of the plate 36 is provided with a downwardly opening U-shaped clip 42 having a downwardly and inwardly extending leg 44 terminating in an outwardly flared lower edge 46 with the clip 42 being formed by a portion of a plate struck inwardly from one corner of the plate 36 along a line of severance 48.

The corner of the plate 36 opposite from the line of severance 48 is rounded as at 50 and the surface of the plate 36 opposed to the leg 44 will frictionally grip and electrically connect with the opposed surfaces of the terminal 24. The dimple or detent 40 is offset from the plate 36 in a direction opposite to the U-shaped clip 42 and is received within an aperture 52 in the strip or body 32 thus serving to retain the contact clip or spring 34 in position when it is mounted on the strip or body 32 by a hollow grommet or rivet structure 54 which extends through the aperture 38 in the plate 36 and a corresponding aperture through the body or strip 32 and the opposite end of the grommet or rivet 54 is electrically connected to a conductive strip 56 disposed on the surface of the strip 32 opposite from the contact clips 34. The conductive strip 56 may be in the form of a printed conductor strip of any suitable conductive material and if desired, the entire surface of the strip 32 including the conductive strip 56 and the heads of the rivets or grommets may be coated with a non-conductive material such as epoxy or the like thus effecting the contact clips from being connected by extraneous conducting materials coming into engagement with the conductive strips 56.

As illustrated in FIGURE 1, the plates 36 are mounted on the strip 32 in an inclined manner with the U-shaped spring clip 42 overlying and generally paralleling the inclined terminals 24. Thus, the clips 42 and the contact clips 34 are electrically and physically connected to the terminals 24 by inserting the U sh-aped clips 42 between adjacent terminals 24 and moving the strip 32 downwardly and laterally outwardly in order to engage the clips 42 with the terminals 24 in an obvious manner.

The particular arrangement of the conductive strips 56 may be varied to connect various of the grommets or rivets 54 thus electrically connecting certain of the contact clips 34 as desired and various ind-icia designations 3 may be employed on the strips 32 which may be color coded for the purpose of designating the particular intercept connector to be employed for a particular type of connection to be made between certain of the terminals.

The spring contacts are constructed of any suitable spring material such as but not limited to heat treated beryllium copper alley which is preferably plated with any suitable plating material such as but not limited to silver plating to assure proper electrical contact and positive gripping action with the terminals.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those I skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operaion shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to.

What is claimed as new as follows:

1. A connector for use in conjunction with a terminal block having a plurality of terminals projecting therefrom, said terminals being arranged in a row and disposed in spaced parallel relation in acute angular relation to the surface of the terminal block, said connector comprising an elongated mounting board of non-conductive material, and a plurality of longitudinally spaced contact spring clips mounted on said board, conductive means on said board interconnecting certain of said clips for electrically interconnecting certain of said terminals when the connector is engaged therewith, each of said clips including a flat plate disposed lagainst one surfiace of said board, said plate being polygonal with one edge portion of the periphery thereof including a slit extending inwardly thereof, the portion of the slitted edge on one side of the slit being formed into a right angular member combining with the plate to form a clip to frictionally grip a terminal therebetween, and fastening means extending through the portion of the slitted edge of the plate on the opposite side of the slit from the clip and through the mounting board into engagement with the conductive means thereby securing the plate on the board, said plate including an inwardly ofliset detent spaced from the fiastening means, said board including a recess receiving said detent for retaining the plate oriented with respect to the board, the slitted edge of said plate being disposed substantially parallel to the terminals when the board is disposed parallel to the terminal block and the slit being substantially perpendicular to the slitted edge of the plate with the portion of the clip integral with the plate being substantially parallel with the slitted edge thereof at substantially the same acute angular relationship as the terminals.

'2. The structure 'as defined in claim 1 wherein said mounting board is relatively narrow, said plate having the slitted edge extending [across the surface thereof in acute angular relation to the longitudinal axis of the board, said fastening means being disposed in the upper corner of the plate, the portion of the clip integral with the plate being disposed in an inclined plane below the fastening means whereby the terminals when engaged with the clips will not come into contact with the fastening means thereby enabling the connector to be inserted downwardly landlaterally onto the terminals and then slid downwardly along the length of the terminals for positioning the connector adjacent the lower ends thereof.

3. In combination with a terminal block having a plurality of parallel spaced terminals disposed in inclined acute angular relation to the terminal block and oriented in a row, a connector comprising an elongated body of non-conductive material, a plurality of spring contact clips mounted on said body and'engaging the terminals,

each of said clips including opposed gripping surfiaces disposed [in the same acute angular relation as the terminals for grippingly engaging opposed surfiaces of the terminal, said body including conductive means interconnecting certain of said clips for electrically interconnecting certain of said terminals when the connector is engaged therewith, each of said clips including a flat plate disposed against one surface of said body, said plate being substantially square with one edge portion of the periphery thereof including a slit extending inwardly thereof, the portion of the siltted edge on one side of the slit being formed into Ia right angular member combining with the plate to form a clip frictionally gripping a terminal therebetween, fastening means extending through a portion of the slitted edge of the plate on the opposite side of the slit from the clipand through the body into engagement with the conductive means thereby securing the plate on the body, said plate including inwardly offset detent spaced from the fastening means, said body including a recess receiving said detent -for retaining the plate oriented with respect to the body the slitted edge of said plate being disposed substantially parallel to the terminals and the slit being substantially perpendicular thereto with the portion of the clip integral with the plate being substantially parallel with the terminals to enable the clips to be engaged with the upper ends of the terminals and slid longitudinally therealong.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner P. A., CLIFFORD, Assistant Examiner U.S. c1 X.R. 339-19, 176 a 

